Corruption is getting worse in Nigeria, according to
the latest corruption perception index (CPI) released by Transparency
International (TI) on Wednesday.
While the country scored 27/100 and was ranked 136th
in 2016, the latest CPI scores Nigeria 28/100 but with a rank of No. 148 out of
180 countries surveyed — a significant 12 places below where it was the
previous year.
This will come as a blow to the President Muhammadu
Buhari administration who came into office on the strength of his
anti-corruption credential.
Although the administration has put many suspects on
trial and seized assets of politicians and government officials, it has also
been accused of condoning corrupt practices by top government officials.
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories
by their perceived levels of public sector corruption in the opinion of experts
and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and
100 is very clean, according to TI.
NIGERIA NOW MORE CORRUPT THAN KENYA
An analysis by TheCable shows that Kenya, which was
rated more corrupt than Nigeria in 2016, has now overtaken the west African
country, climbing to 143 from 145.
Other sub Saharan African countries ranked higher
than Nigeria are Botswana — whose joint 34 rank is the best in Africa — as well
as Rwanda (joint 48) and Nambia (joint 53).
Nigeria is ranked 148 along with Guinea and Comoros.
In 2015, Nigeria scored 26/100 and was ranked 136 —
although only 168 countries and territories were surveyed then.
New Zealand maintains the No. 1 rank with a score of
89/100, Denmark No. 2 with 88, while Finland, Norway and Switzerland are joint
No. 3 with 85.
‘CORRUPTION FIGHT IN NIGERIA STALLED’
Meanwhile, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy
Centre (CISLAC), the national contact of TI, says it is “seriously worried”
about the new but unfavorable trend in the fight against corruption in the
country, as buttressed in the newly published CPI.
“On the African continent, Nigeria ranks 32nd
position in Africa out of 52 assessed countries in 2017. While Botswana leads
the continent with the record of competent and largely corruption-free public
administration, Nigeria hopelessly falls behind with 27 points. In West Africa,
Nigeria is the second worst country out of 17 countries leaving only Guinea
Bissau behind,” CISLAC said in a statement released on Wednesday evening.
“This fresh setback in the fight against corruption
confirms that grand-corruption, political corruption, nepotism, favoritism and
bribery persist in Nigeria at all levels. It is CISLAC’s view that the negative
perception is mainly a consequence of the inability to combat grand corruption
and astronomical plundering of public coffers costing the Nigerian tax payers
around 25% of annual GDP. Since the current administration has come to power on
the anti-corruption ticket, no significant politically exposed person has been
duly sentenced on anti-corruption charges,” it added.
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